Rita Notes: American garden furniture

At Home: Country-house style updated

Eschwing chintz and also safe neutrals, the owners of this Cotwolds house took a fresh approach when they renovated the run-down former rectory to create a modern weekend retreat full of colour and bold patterns.

We had lots of bits and pieces; the idea was to buy as little as possible, use what we had and fudge the rest.' This is how the owner describes their approach to the redecoration of this handsome old rectory in the Cotswolds. Yes, the result has a casualness to it - the owner talks of 'throwing things together' - but it also has an elegance and none of the ordinariness that is inferred by her description. Combined with the fudging is an eye for engaging pictures, fabrics and objets, and a flair for pulling it all together that immediately imbues these very liveable interiors with a gravitas and interest.

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Roald Dahl's Buckinghamshire Cottage

ByLiz Elliot

Bought as a weekend retreat for this couple and their four children - now almost grown up - it was 'wonderfully' run-down when they bought it: 'a time warp with an overgrown garden'. Once the sale had completed, they realised that they had taken on a project of huge proportions. 'It pretty much fell down when we started to work on it,' says the owner. They had to get rid of the dry rot, re-roof, re-plumb and re-wire; it very nearly overwhelmed them.

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Christian Louboutin's 13th century château

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But none of this dilapidation or datedness is apparent today. Most enter via the large boot room, presided over by a striking print of a pit bull, and into the kitchen with its retro bronze tiles above the Aga, found on Ebay, and a Julian Chichester table. It is modern without looking too urban. This room had previously been several smaller rooms all on different levels; it is now better suited to modern family life. Bored of beige and expensive stone, they opted for a black lino floor instead. 'We were trying to mix things up,' the owner explains, 'though it's not hugely practical.'

The kitchen runs almost the depth of the house and leads through to the hall and front door. Across the hall, a large L-shape sofa turns what was once the dining room into a comfortable television room, with oak panelling that is original to the house. This leads through to the morning room - a pretty sitting room with white-painted panelling, also original to the house.

At the back of the house, looking out to the garden, is the drawing room or 'Monkey room', named after its Fornasetti wallpaper depicting monkeys among leaves, chosen because it echoed the foliage outside the window. Here, with the help of Guy Stansfeld, the architect for the whole project, the owners tore down 'a Sixties-style sunroom' and added a library. It is a light-filled room that feels like an orangery, such is the size of its windows. As well as acting as an extension to the drawing room, this space houses the owner's collection of art books.

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Inside the world of Nicky Haslam

ByLiz Elliot

Though they intended to use things they already had to furnish this house, the owner explains, 'We did not want it to look bland. I wanted it to be jewel-like.' Hence the punches of colour: the green chair and gold curtains in the otherwise white morning room; and an emerald-green carpet that runs up the stairs and along the landing.

Upstairs, the bedrooms are full of interest. In the main bedroom - in its own wing and accessed through its bathroom- the owners created a coved ceiling and chose wallpaper that subtly shimmers, especially at night. The bed was bought in India and arrived in more than 100 pieces. They now feel the wallpaper they chose for the bathroom, Merlin by Neisha Crosland, has been overused and overseen, but nonetheless it works well in this room with its marble-clad bath and basin, designed by Guy.

The main spare room is huge and airy; they have opened up the ceiling to the rafters above. In contrast to the other rooms, where there are shots of strong colour, here nearly everything is white.

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The interiors of Charleston, the house the Bloomsbury Group turned in to a living work of art

ByEmily Senior

In many ways it is the 'fudging' that gives this house its charm. There has clearly not been an interior decorator here: things have been put together in a more organic, yet no less stylish way. Every room has paintings and prints that draw the eye. Rugs come from Morocco - 'we always buy one when we go' - and fabrics are mostly vintage, which they have collected over time. As the owners put it, there is also a 'good dollop of Ikea', including the bedside cabinets in their son's bedroom. There are inherited pieces, too, such as the bamboo furniture in their daughter's bedroom. 'I'm good at bringing things in on a budget,' says the owner laughing, which is why in one of the bathrooms she painted the existing floorboards a glossy black instead of laying something new.

It's a good house for parties. There are more dormitory rooms in the attic and in the garden is a barn, which they were able to buy at the same time as the house, with more bedrooms and a table that can extend to seat 40. The main room is a dramatic space lined with high bookshelves, designed by Guy to house the owners' many books.

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The Jacobean manor at the heart of The Land Gardener's thriving business designing walled gardens and growing cut flowers

ByClare Foster

The garden was an equally large but no less rewarding project. Justin Spink was brought in to uproot the nettles and establish a charming English garden with an orchard, vegetable plot and herb meadows. Beech hedges, stone walls and iron fencing have been used to create a series of 'rooms'. Perhaps most remarkable is the Edwardian water garden with its series of rills and pools, which they unearthed in the woodland and have added to and enhanced.

One wonders what the old lady who lived here before would think of all that has happened since her departure. Inside it may not be your quintessential English rectory decoration- there is no chintz, little 'brown' furniture, and plenty of colour and pattern - but this is country-house style updated and yet sympathetic. Surrounded by its now extensive garden, it is undeniably lovely.